The Most Dangerous Foe
by Coletta
Summary: When his lips didn't part to reveal those fangs, he had a handsome smile. And he was very tall, which was pleasing to a girl. And she had grown fond of the way his unkempt hair fell into his eyes. Yes, he was the most dangerous foe. Mature content.
1. Late Night

Content warning for later chapter. Heed mature content warnings. Once you read it, you cannot un-read it.

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Young Integra, a week shy of fourteen, climbed the grand staircase of the Hellsing manor slowly. Very slowly. Her knap-sack dragged behind her, a stack of folders clutched to her chest. It was four A.M. and as unproductive as the Round Table meeting had been, she still needed to…

Integra missed a step.

She fumbled and fell forward. She couldn't reach out to break her fall. She dropped her folder and her papers scattered, but she caught herself on the banister moments before landing face-first onto a step. Her glasses slipped from her nose. _Pat-pat-pat_. They tumbled down the stairs.

She grunted grumpily.

She gathered her papers and put them in an unorganized pile and continued climbing the stairs. She would return for the glasses, wherever they landed, when her arms were no longer full. She made her way to her father's old abode; her new office.

The moment she closed the door, the office was blanketed in darkness. She cursed herself, remembering the desk lamp was all the way across the room. Blindly, she reached out and walked forward, seeking it.

She stopped suddenly in the middle of the darkened room, seeing the barest glint of light reflecting off…_something_ that didn't belong.

Only three people resided in the twenty-thousand square foot mansion. Whenever something was out of place, she could count on her meticulous butler to not be the culprit. And unless she remembered touching something on her own accord, only one other person could be the cause.

She waited, patiently.

_Click._

Alucard was waiting for her, leaning casually against her desk and looking out the window. Sheets of rain cast hazy, melting shadows across the dimly lit room. "You've been gone for too long."

_P-pat pat pat p-pat pat _went the rain.

Waiting on her desk were her glasses, neatly folded.

Integra tossed her coat onto an arm chair and approached him, adjusting her cravat, smoothing her hand down her legs and making sure her skirt wasn't bunched around the holster and firearm snugly attached to her left thigh. She said nothing to the vampire. She was neither pleased nor irritated to see him. She was too tired to have opinions. However, his powerful and familiar body brought with it a sense of security that offset his unavoidable vulgarity and disrespect.

She eyed the glasses and took them without thanking him.

She thought to herself, her father and grandfather must have mistreated him pretty severely for him to automatically retrieve her glasses. It was so obvious to her that he hated her, hated her family, reviled his unnatural "place" as a servant. She had been his master for little less than a year, but she had come to know and accept this. When he moved, she could see his undead familiars swarming in his shadows and hair angrily, the way muscles ripple under taut skin. When he spoke, what little he spoke, his lips pulled back and revealed gleaming rows of fangs. Not just in the elongated canines, but even his incisors were irregular and pointed. His whole being radiated power. And she was so small.

Sometimes, she wanted to kill him. Snuff him out, while he slumbered in that coffin.

For her own safety. For the safety of everyone else. She wasn't surprised anymore that her father had the vampire locked away. If her soldiers were more capable, she would put Alucard right back where she found him. But she understood the human toll of the previous imprisonment. He had not gone willingly, and she knew he would not return willingly, for all his dramatic claims of being her servant.

And yet, if she found herself intimidated, she could only imagine how everyone else felt. As long as she could endure him, she was protected from all other enemies.

But Alucard was the most dangerous foe of all.

When he smiled only slightly, when his lips didn't part to reveal those fangs, he had a handsome smile. He had a handsome face. And he was very tall, which was pleasing to a girl. And she had grown fond of the way his unkempt hair fell into his eyes. And his voice was rich and deep.

He had _purposely_ molded himself into something that she found attractive. He had done the same thing with her father–only then, he had been a lithe, young girl. She had seen the faded photographs. And yet, his mouth was full of horrible teeth. Yes, he was the most dangerous foe.

"The sun will rise soon," Alucard commented. "It's nearly time for me to retire to my own resting place."

Integra waved him off. His concern was false. Everything about him was false, even the unease in his voice. Alucard went on: "The old men know your days are packed with tutors and soldiers. They arrange these late night meetings to wear you down, hoping that you'll appoint someone else to act as Director. Before long, you may, if you do not sleep."

She walked past his melted-shadow form mechanically and took seat behind her desk. "If I leave this until tomorrow, I'll just stay awake all night. Thinking about it."

Alucard was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I can help you sleep."

The girl snorted.

He continued, "Your father had chronic bouts of insomnia before the war. While your grandfather was still alive, sickly and deteriorating, he took command and had many sleepless nights, until I offered my powers to him to keep him asleep."

"Your _powers_?" Integra raised her eyebrow as she sorted her papers. "You mean hypnotize him? Put him in a trance?"

"I mean I helped him fall asleep. Nothing more insidious than that."

Integra glared bitterly at the vampire. "The same powers your kind use to lull my kind into a false sense of security, moments before the end. I think you'll understand that I must decline to use your powers…_recreationally_."

Alucard was expressionless. "The only ones who become addicted to me are those that abuse me."

Integra blinked. "What?"

"All things in moderation, my master."

"I still don't understand what you mean. Are you being vulgar again?"

"Your ancestor Abraham locked me in burning, silver chains and whipped me," Alucard said without emotion. "He stuffed Eucharists in my mouth and gagged me. He stripped me naked and left me in the sunlight for hours just to see what would happen." His head cocked slightly, his hair falling out of his eyes. "He was reluctant to surrender me to your father when the time came to step down. And I was reluctant to leave him."

Integra said nothing. She was stunned by the admission.

Alucard's eyes were dead and cold. "You humans are dangerous foes."

Integra continued to stare unbelieving at the vampire. "Why?"

His head cocked. His eyes gleamed, full of dangerous curiosity. "I don't know _why_ I wish to please you Hellsings so." He reached his hand out to her.

She stared blankly at his offered hand.

"Please, master," the vampire implored. "Let us sleep."

"Soon," she assured him. "Go to bed. I will go sleep soon."

The creature withdrew his hand and sank into the darkness. "I'll be waiting," he said in farewell.

_To be continued…_


	2. Morning Consumation

Content warning for later chapter. Heed mature content warnings. Once you read it, you cannot un-read it.

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Integra went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She went to her dresser and began to undress before the mirror.

She briefly examined her reflection as she slid off the skirt to her school uniform. Stress had caused her to lose her appetite. She eyed the bony protrusions in her hips rising above her skin. How much weight had she lost in the past few months? Even her face felt hollow, her youthful cheeks sunken in. This was not the time to be preoccupied about her appearance, however, and she took a plain cotton night-gown from the dresser. She slipped off her bra and tossed it aside and breathed a sigh of relief. Even at her young age, her breasts were full and well developed, and after twelve hours stuffed into a brassiere, her back and sides started to ache.

How _odd _Alucard had been, she thought dully.

She imagined him laying naked on an examination table, strapped down before her grandfather while the man performed cruel experiments on the vampire. Then she imagined herself laying naked in the same manner, except at Alucard's mercy.

She shook her head in disgust.

How terrible it must have been. Yet, she had to remind herself he was no innocent. He wasn't a victim of circumstance or a product of his era. He was a murderer. One of the great tyrants of all time. He had done so much worse to his victims than what Hellsing had done to him. He'd impaled well over forty _thousand_ people, many the innocent family members of his enemies. He'd burned entire towns down. He killed indiscriminately. Women and children. A child-murderer. And those were just his _human_ crimes. Once he'd become a vampire, his wickedness was truly unleashed. Wickedness unlike the world had ever seen.

It was her duty, above all others, to keep Alucard a prisoner. More important than wiping out all vampire kind, her first duty was to protect the world from Alucard. That was Hellsing's true function. Eradicating vampires for the glory of England was practically a _front_. Using him to wipe out all vampire kind was just enough to keep him occupied, entertained, while he sunk deeper and deeper into dependence and submission.

Yet, the fact that her father had sealed him away was proof that something had gone awry in that scheme.

She had to succeed where her father had failed.

Integra slid her glasses off the bridge of her nose and folded them in her hand. She looked at them.

She thought of how Alucard had retrieved them and brought them to her.

She rubbed her tender sides, then slipped her night-gown over her head. She reached down to her thigh and started to unlatch the holster strapped there.

Then she paused.

Something odd. Something out of place in the mirror.

She turned around.

The room wasn't entirely dark. Dawn was creeping over the horizon, and a diffused amber glow warmed the room.

Alucard was sound asleep on her bed, his hands neatly folded across his chest like a corpse at a wake. His legs were straight, the toes of his boots pointed towards the ceiling like a wooden toy. How unnaturally _stiff_ a vampire slept. Not a hair was out of place. His clothes were impeccable, without a wrinkle. He lay on the left side of the king-sized bed instead of in the center-as if he expected her to _join_ him.

Integra waited expressionlessly.

He must think he's terribly funny, Integra thought, but how foolish he is to sleep outside the protection of his coffin. In a bed, like a _man_–what _mockery_.

She folded her arms.

Even with his lips relaxed in sleep, he still had a handsome face.

There was hint of a wrinkle–no more than a thin smile line–down his cheek. Evidence he was always smirking.

She scowled.

Who was she fooling?

She hated him, yet he made her giddy with power. All that evil, all that power and rage and guiltless killing potential was _hers_ to command. She could set him to any task and be confident he would see it through as if he were a machine, and she wouldn't have to be bothered with anything other than wait for his return. She could wipe out the Round Table, _tonight_.

But most of all…

Most of all.

She had grown fond of the way his hair fell into his foolish eyes.

Even when he was looking_ down_ at her, he always seemed to be looking_ up_ at her. There was a curious spark in those red eyes. An amusement. A merriment. Not that he was just happy, that he was happy to be with _her_. And when she spoke, his whole face lit up, and he hung on her every word. And she did not know why. She did not see in herself whatever he found so amusing. She was not a particularly pretty girl, or very commanding. Why did she absorb his attention so?

If anything, she thought she was incredibly plain, and she found herself intimidated by many things, and every task expected of her felt excruciating. She was embarrassed by everything she did. Even when calling a meeting to order, she was painfully aware of how young and short she was. When she wore her father's robes, she felt like she was playing dress-up. When she attended target practice, she felt like her gun's recoil would send her flying. When she spoke to her men, she felt them silently judging her; she sent them out to battle from her safe little castle, a little girl with no concept of their sacrifice. She could see their resentment in their eyes. When one of them died, how could she consol their grieving families? Her age made her a joke and their deaths pointless.

Alucard made her feel strong. He made her feel in control. He made her feel like she could kill the world for making her feel so small.

How the mind schemes such evil plots when there's no consequences for your actions, Integra thought. No Christian heart could resist unlimited power, not when you command the Devil himself to do your bidding. How quickly one could be seduced by evil. But God defeated the Devil and cast him into the lake of fire. Her battle was not with one man or with one monster. Her's was the eternal battle, and she need not look farther than Christ for strength.

"You look like a virginal bride in that slight little thing. Did you wear it for me?"

Integra realized the slumbering beast's eyes were slightly opened. She wasn't sure how long he had been awake.

"Come to consummate our vows?" The vampire reached up and unknotted his cravat. "Be gentle with me."

He relaxed his knees, letting his legs open a little.

The girl's expression did not change, but she fought to keep her eyes on his face.

It was God's will that he belonged to her. She hoped Hellsing was his own personal hell. "Remove yourself from my bed immediately," Integra commanded cooly. "You've been given a dark, musty corner of the house for your coffin where you won't be disturbed. But this bedroom is reserved for the _master_ of this house."

"I used to believe I had a place in God's kingdom, too," Alucard said, tossing his cravat aside. "Be careful that you don't substitute your own dark lusts for God's will, or you will kill many innocents in the defense of your faith."

"Stop reading my thoughts," Integra said. "And you have no faith in Christ."

"Nor you," Alucard countered. "The trick of worshiping a benevolent but absent God is that we never really know what He wants. And when we rely on little voices in our souls and hearts to guide us, we find ourselves covered in blood as we stand on a field of battle littered with corpses."

Integra raised an eyebrow. "Don't try to tell me you murdered little children to please God."

"Little boys can carry the sword and the bow, just as men can." Alucard let his head loll to the side, his inky hair flowing with it. "And girls can command armies and lead men into doom or victory, as queens can." His glowing red eyes peered at her between locks of his black hair. "Children can become enslaved and sold as concubines, passed around to diseased men and die in a ditch with their bellies empty and their wombs full of filth. Don't think your enemies would spare your life just because of your age. They would kill you. Just as surely as I would kill them, or their children, to protect you and give glory to you."

Integra shuddered. "I would never ask you to kill children for any reason, even to preserve my life."

"You don't have to ask," Alucard said, unbuttoning the top button of his collar. "It's my pleasure."

"Leave my bed so I can sleep."

"There's enough room for us both, master." He undid the second button. "I promised you I would help you to sleep and I intended to keep that promise in person."

"Get out of my bed. You're dirtying it with your corpse-smells."

Alucard undid a third button, smiling wryly.

The girl angrily stepped forward, her arms stiff at her side, her fists clenched. "Get out this instant. I forbid you from entering my bedroom again."

"Tell me how I'm not good enough for you," Alucard requested, his eyes heavily lidded. "Tell me I'm your unworthy slave."

She sneered. "Of course a murderer like you, who relishes in torturing others, would be a pain slut himself. I won't be your dominatrix. Get out of my bed. I'm not going to tell you again…"

"_'Pain slut_.' I like that. Can that be our safe word?" He unbuttoned a forth. "I can't imagine you in leather. But I'll try." He unbuttoned the fifth, now more than halfway down his stomach, and the white flesh underneath began to peek out. "Did your father ever express regrets that he didn't have a son? Did he worry about you taking command?"

"My father taught me that my gender made no difference," Integra said firmly. "He told me I would be leader of the Hellsing Organization. He's said it since the beginning. He had no other plan than me."

"All fathers want a strong son to carry on for them." Alucard paused with his fingers touching the sixth button, low on his body near his hips. "Still. I would have liked to have a daughter like you. You were stronger than all my sons. They died, you understand. Inferior blood, like me. I always thought it was a miracle that I survived to adulthood." His fingers did not move. His eyes were locked on his master. "Sometimes I pretend that we are blood. That you are my sister, and we shared the same father. Or that you are my child. I don't know. I get mixed up in my dreams."

Integra turned away from him and went to the windows, feeling bile rise in her throat at the thought of being biologically related to Alucard. "Are there no depths your perversions won't sink to?"

Alucard pulled another button open, and at last his skin was bare. "I don't know. I haven't tried them all yet."

"You're filth." Integra flung open the drapes and the bedroom was bathed in sunlight.

_To be continued…_


	3. Midnight Beating

**Content warning for mature themes starting now. Heed mature content warnings. Once you read it, you cannot un-read it.**

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Integra was standing in a familiar, yet unfamiliar place.

She was stunned. A moment ago, she was before the window in her own bedroom. But at the moment she flung open the curtain and her room was flooded with light, just as her eyes adjusted, she found herself in another room. She was in the sublevel of her own house.

The sublevel dungeon was the same as it had always existed, except it was not empty anymore. It was filled with equipment. Examination tables. Racks of tools. Trays of medical supplies. Cabinets with partially open drawers. And torture devices. Fresh blood dripping from them. Her blue eyes lingered on the cruel blades and screws.

Her bare feet felt cold against the stone. Her toes flexed. "Is this Hellsing?" she asked herself.

Before her was a heavy bolted iron door, left ajar.

"Ohh God…God, _please_…"

The voice was miserable, pitiful. Small. Exhausted but desperate, with a thick accent she couldn't place.

She reached out with her small hands and nudged the door open.

She drew back in horror at what she saw.

She recognized Abraham Van Hellsing only because she had frequently seen his photograph, but she had never seen him like this. Not that she just had never seen him alive, but he was youthful and solid with a firm jaw and strong hands. His jacket was discarded and his dress shirt sleeves were rolled up past his elbows. The knees of his pants were scuffed up and his face and dirty blond hair were slick with perspiration, as though he were in the middle of some great effort. He was alive before her, which she knew was impossible.

Alucard took a full minute for the girl to recognize, and when she did it was only because of his red eyes. And she had not wanted to look at him because his naked body was horrifically emaciated and arranged in a disgusting and _unChristian-like _way. The voice that spilled from his bleeding mouth was terrified. "Stop! Stop!" he begged, the Romanian accent distorting his diction.

"It's God's will, not mine, that you should suffer," Abraham hissed from between clenched teeth, his own voice thick with a Dutch accent. The man raised his fist above his head. He held what appeared to be a linked chain, each link uneven and irregular, as if it had been made by hand rather than by machine. At one end, the end Abraham held, there was a leather strap that wrapped around his wrist. At the other end, crude razor-like blades completed the metal device. There was a dullness to the metal, and all at once Integra realized it was fashioned from tarnished silver.

The vampire was suspended upside down. He wasn't entirely off the ground. His head and shoulders were touching the floor, his weight resting on his neck, his head cruelly twisted under his own weight. On either side of his body were two fixed poles about four feet apart, and at the top of each of the poles was a metal hook attached to shackles which bound Alucard's ankles, forcing his legs to spread far apart. A horizontal metal bar connected the two poles for support, and that bar rested directly across Alucard's back, forcing the vampire to arch his spine and jut out his stomach. His hands were pinned behind his back by two silver chains, forcing him to keep them both behind him and raised. The chain traveled from his wrists, down his back and across his buttocks and across his groin, up over his pelvis and around his throat. It appeared if he did not hold his arms up or if he were to go slack, it was not only crush his exposed genitals, but probably strangle him as well. And it appeared from the plum bruises around his wrists, in her groin and around his neck that his strength had failed him multiple times-and by the welts and bleeding sores dappling his body, it was because he was being flogged. The vampire was shaking with effort. "Please, no more," he begged. Wet tears flowed freely from his red eyes, streaming up his forehead and sinking into his black hair, mixing with his blood. "I didn't do it. Please master! Please let me down…"

"You're doing it now as you speak, you unrepentant demon!" Abraham roared, bringing the chain down with a mightily swing, belting the vampire's thigh and splitting it open.

The pitiful shriek that followed almost made Integra faint. Her hands flew up, as if to grab the flying blade, but she took them back and, shaking, pressed them into her own breasts and bit down on her own horrified cry.

"I command you to release my body from whatever curse you've placed on it," Abraham demanded furiously.

Alucard was openly sobbing. "I'm not_ doing_ anything to you! Please stop!"

Abraham retracted the chain and gathered his strength again. "I command you, by the power of Jesus Christ to release my body from your curse!"

Alucard writhed helplessly, his chains straining. "I only did what you ordered me to do! Why are you punishing me! I did only what you ordered, nothing more, I swear it!"

Abraham paused with his fist and chain high above his head. "Did I order you to insert foreign, wicked thoughts inside my mind? Did I order you to invade my dreams? Did I order you to affect my physical body in this way that God never intended?"

"I did not!" Alucard hiccuped, his eyes shut in misery. "I would never! I pledged myself to you master! My loyalty is yours! You…you showed me compassion and spared my life and gave me a path back to Christ!" Alucard writhed, his broken legs straining. His twisted neck strained and the vampire tried to look back at the man. "Master…you can't understand…and I know you won't believe me…but I love you!"

Integra felt her hands, clenched against her bosom, go numb. Her knees became weak.

Abraham brought the chain down directly between Alucard's legs and the vampire's whole body seized up. The sound that came from the vampire then was either a cry or a shout, but some horrible, inhuman sound, so loud and piercing that Integra thought her ears would never hear again. But she did hear again, as Abraham's thundering voice bellowed: "And you threw my compassion back in my face you sick monster! There is no room for a deviant like you in God's Kingdom. You've used your supernatural mind control powers to affect me, to stir my base instincts against my will. I will whip you until you admit it!"

Alucard trembled. "No…no…you've starved all my powers away. I have no power. I have nothing. I swear…I swear."

"Are you suggesting these unnatural desires are coming from me!" Again, Abraham swung and belted the vampire's flesh. "I'll flay you to the bone!"

The vampire's sanity fell apart before Integra's eyes. Sobbing, hysterical, the vampire began to recite the Lord's prayer as fast as he could. This only infuriated Abraham more, who now whipped the vampire in earnest, and blood cascaded down his body. When the vampire's prayer was finished, he allowed his arms to go slack, and the noose of chain around his neck tightened. He continued to pray, his lips forming the Lord's prayer again but now no voice emerging.

Integra felt a lump form in her throat as Alucard's face turned purple and his eyes rolled back into his skull.

"I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE!" Abraham roared, dropping his home-made whip and seizing a pair of sharp pliers from a near-by table (a table, Integra noticed, that had many used, bloody instruments). He ran up to the vampire's front and clipped a chain with the pliers, releasing the tension suddenly. Alucard's arms flopped down violently, his limbs landing in a twisted, unnatural way that made the girl think his wrists were broken. His throat released, Alucard's lungs involuntarily sucked in air with a sad wheezing sound.

Abraham was not concerned with the vampire's fragile life. He kicked Alucard angrily in the face. "I won't be robbed of the pleasure of my victory over you, just so that you can roast in Hell! If eternal torture and torment is what you crave, I promise I can fulfill your every desire right here in this house better than the Devil can! And if you insist on inserting these wicked cravings in my mind, I swear I will turn them right back on you!" With that, the man sank to his knees and unfastened his trousers. "Open your mouth."

As Integra realized what was about to happen, she turned around quickly a clasped her hands over her ears and shut her eyes as tight as she could. But it didn't muffle Abrahams shouts; "Wider!" or Alucard's chocking. "Good boy," Abraham praised angrily, "Just like that. Don't pretend you don't want it. You're the one who put the thought in my mind, after all. Ahh, yes. And swallow every drop. This is the only meal you'll have for a while." From then on, the room was filled the sound of a human male rutting, and a vampire whimpering.

The frightened, sickened girl could not hide her face forever. She looked back to see her grandfather Abraham, the legendary patriarch of the Hellsing family, thrusting his hips as he straddled Alucard's head. While Integra couldn't see what she knew he was doing, she found herself focused on Alucard's limp hands. They lay unmoving on the ground, palm-up. Occasionally, his fingers twitched.

"Please, stop," Integra begged weakly when she couldn't watch anymore. "You're horrible."

To her surprise, the figures before her responded to her voice.

Abraham paused and turned around and looked. When he saw Integra, he suddenly rose to his feet and closed the front of his pants. "Ah…Arthur! Why are you out of bed?"

Integra looked around and realized he was speaking to her, but instead of her he was seeing, he was seeing her father, only as a boy. "I…" Integra didn't know what to say. She looked past Abraham and stared at Alucard. His jaw was slack, and a sickly strand of drool (or something else) clung to his lip and he made no move to wipe his mouth. In fact, Alucard did not move at all. His eyes were glassy voids.

Tears Integra hadn't realized were welling in her eyes finally cascaded down her face. "How could you?" she asked miserably of the man approaching her.

"You mustn't feel sympathy for him," Abraham rushed to tell her. "He's a demon. I explained to you long ago what Dracula is and why he is here. He's not human and he doesn't have the same rights as you or I."

"He may not be human but…" Integra lost control, the tears flowing freely.

"I told you," Abraham said, wiping the girl's face with her sleeve, "long ago about how Vlad the Impaler tortured and killed people. Inside that scraggily creature on the floor is a great tyrant who impaled thousands and thousands . How I…_discipline _him is far kinder than how he treated his own victims. Do you understand now why I must be cruel?"

Integra looked sadly at the vampire laying on the floor. She noted how he was still naked, his legs still spread obscenely, how his backside, thighs and genitals were mutilated by her grandfather, how his neck was black and blue from the effort of trying to kill himself.

She shook her head violently. "He's….he's just a big, dumb animal that doesn't know any better. He doesn't deserve this, no matter what he's done." She curled her hands into helpless fists. "We aren't any better than he is if this is how we treat our foes."

Suddenly, Abraham slapped Integra's face and Integra nearly fell backwards with the force of it, but the man gripped her arm firmly. "My son will not speak to me that way! Dracula is a demon, a demon you must one day command, and you will not be weak before him! You will master him, as I have, and I will now allow your naive feelings to be taken advantage of." Abraham yanked the girl forward and dragged her across the floor. "Now come with me!"

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To be continued…


	4. Those Who Abuse

**Content warning for mature themes! Heed mature content warnings. Once you read it, you cannot un-read it. **

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Before Abraham could do or say anything, Integra sank to her knees and she placed her hands on the vampire's sunken cheeks. "Alucard," she whispered mournfully, looking into his lackluster eyes. His skin was soaked with blood, staining her small hands. "Alucard," she said again.

There was no flicker of recognition in his eyes. The vampire didn't respond to the name, as it was not yet his. But she did not know what else to call him. "Dracula" seemed vulgar. "Vlad" was too personal, a part of his past so far removed he had never acknowledged it to her. To say the name out loud, at this vulnerable moment, seemed like a cruel taunt. Integra slowly removed her hands. This Alucard was a stranger to her.

"When he was human," Abraham mused, circling circled around the vampire, "he impaled thousands of enemies. He did it by rigging his victims in a similar position as he is in now. He laid them on the ground, spread their legs and attached a leather strap to either ankle, leading to a two-horse team. Then he would position the staff in a fixed spot between the victim's legs, and then march the horses forward, dragging the living, screaming victim slowly into the staff." Abraham patted Alucard's side affectionately. "Then he would display his human trophies by raising them and the staff in the air. Often times, the victims would still be alive. He was legendary for basking in their misery. No, he didn't shy away from what he'd done. He'd arrange feasts on the battle field right before his impaled prisoners, and eat and drink merrily to a chorus of their cries..."

"Enough," Integra said, squeezing her eyes shut, as if to will away the past. "He's a monster. But think of your own soul. You can never inflict a punishment on this creature that will bring justice to all those he's killed…but torturing him like this pushes _you_ ever closer to becoming like him, rather than reforming him to become like us."

"Reforming him?" Abraham echoed in disbelief. "Dracula's curse is not a matter of simple feeding habits. His brain is wired for compulsive torture. Dracula can never be saved. His soul was lost long ago."

Integra thought of the Alucard she knew. She thought of her glasses, neatly folded on her desk, dutifully retrieved by her pet. She remembered how his inky black hair would fall into his foolish eyes and she remembered how he made her feel both powerful and small.

But especially, she remembered his chilling words: _"Your ancestor Abraham locked me in burning, silver chains and whipped me. He stuffed Eucharists in my mouth and gagged me. He stripped me naked and left me in the sunlight for hours just to see what would happen." _

She wasn't sure if she had really believed him or not. But he had_ told_ of this. She had listened to the information with barely a reaction. If anyone had hurt her the way she'd seen Abraham had hurt Alucard, she could never speak of it. The shame would be too crippling. Yet, Alucard had told her casually. Just another episode in a long, long life.

Integra stroked Alucard's hair. Did she have any right to intervene here? What cruelty Alucard was experiencing was only a fraction of what he had inflicted on others. Perhaps this experience was necessary…to transform him into the servant she knew.

"You don't have the luxury of doubt," Abraham continued. "Imagine the fields of England dotted with impaled corpses rotting in the sun, cities empty but for wandering ghouls. If ever we are lax in our duties, that may yet be our future."

_Our duties?_ Integra thought bitterly. _No wonder Alucard has such contempt for humans. We act like animals. Far from soldiers of purity and goodness, my grandfather used Alucard as a receptacle for his own lust and called it compassion._

Integra stroked Alucard's hair one last time, her face chiseled in grief, then removed her hand.

_Nonetheless. Alucard would do the same to me._

Alucard keened a low whine, his broken arms dragging across the floor in an attempt to touch her back. His arms didn't move far, twisted, bones beginning to jut from the black and bruised flesh. Immobilized once more, the vampire whimpered in his thick accent, "Please…"

She stared at Alucard sadly for long minutes. She looked into his frightened eyes. She could see her own reflection staring back at her in those dead orbs. She saw herself…but not as a young boy, not as her father. She saw herself, Integra Hellsing, with her long blond tendrils and her white night gown, her face twisted and contorted in fear and uncertainly.

Her eyes widened.

Something inside of her hardened then.

_Oh, what a laugh Alucard must be having at my expense right now,_ Integra thought, suddenly seething.

She glared at the vampire and shouted, "Get out of my head! How dare you invent this alternative history, you monster! My grandfather was no closet sodomite. We Hellsings harbor no secret lusts for you!" Integra jumped to her feet. "I don't know which I'm more insulted by–that you made-up this disgusting nonsense and exposed me to it…or that you thought I would believe it!"

Alucard's struggling slowed down as his attention was diverted from Abraham to her. He looked at her in a mixture of terror, hate and confusion. "Why are you both accusing me of things I haven't done? I gave visions to no one. I have poisoned no one's thoughts. I have no power. Why don't either of you believe me? I have done nothing…only what I was told to do." He tried lifting his broken arms, as if to reach out to them. "I only did as you asked. Nothing else."

Integra's blood boiled, her hands squeezing into shaking fists. She lifted her foot up and stomped it on Alucard's face, shouting, "Release me from this vision or I will lock you away in the basement for good!"

Alucard cried out and blood erupted under Integra's bare foot. It gushed between her toes. She yelped and backed away. Alucard rolled to the side in pain, blood gushing from his nose. Integra blinked. He she broken his nose? No, no, it couldn't be. She did not have the strength to inflict such an injury on the vampire. "Nice trick, vampire," Integra snapped, "But I know it's not for real. This is all your illusion. You are trying to trick me into feeling sympathy for you! Well, I am a Hellsing, and I am not moved by a vampire's suffering. Bleed all you like. Bleed yourself to death."

Alucard twitched and whined, his jaw clenched in agony, his teeth stained red.

Integra waited impatiently. Then her lip quivered. "Damn you, say something! I have had enough of your games!"

Alucard made no response. He just continued to look up at her, hopeless, helpless, eyes begging, arms broken, legs spread. His eyes closed in misery, and bloody tears streamed down his forehead and mixed with his blood on the floor.

_"Say something!"_ Integra screamed. "Say something! Anything! Have you _nothing_ to say for yourself? Nothing at all?"

Alucard said miserably to her; "I didn't do anything. I was in my cage."

_"You're lying!"_ Abraham and Integra roared simultaneously.

Alucard continued on, "I was in my cage. All day. All night. Just like every day and every night. The walls are blessed. My powers could not pass through them. And I would not try. I would not cross my master."

"Shut up!" Integra demanded, her hands sinking into her scalp and grabbing her own hair. "Shut up! You have no remorse. You're soul can't be saved. You murdered everyone. You murdered little babies." Integra felt wetness on her cheeks and realized she was crying. There was nothing she could do to stop her own tears. "How can you ask for forgiveness after all that you've done?"

"Enough," Abraham ordered of Integra. "There is no reasoning with him. He'll never admit his one ability-the ability deceive the minds of men. It is the one power that cannot be thwarted. I can lock him up, beat him, starve him. His physical body may whither. I can confine him to a single cell. But his mental abilities remain sharp. He'll never confess to having this one remaining power. It is the only power he has left and he'll never let it be compromised." Abraham turned and looked at his work table, strewn with various tools. "In our years together, this monster's callousness has surprised me many times. He cares not for the suffering of others. But I've made sure he understands just how much pain his actions have caused others by inflicting his favorite tortures on _him_."

"No!" Alucard shouted, his struggles renewed, his body suddenly twisting and writhing. "No! No!"

Abraham glared back down at Alucard. "We did this before. We'll do it again, until you learn." When he turned around, he revealed a four foot long metal staff with a very sharp point. The metal was rusty and caked with flaking old blood.

Integra stepped back, looking at the staff and back at Alucard in disgust. "You mean to suggest," Integra snarled, "that my he _impaled_ you? For sport?"

Alucard did not hear Integra. He was frantically trying to escape.

Abraham turned to Integra and said, "Every night. Until he learns."

Integra turned around in revulsion, marching back in the direction that she had come. "Fine. I leave both of you to your fantasies. I'll find my own way back." As she went, she felt a dull pain pounding in her foot. She looked down at her foot and saw blood was still seeping from between her toes as she went. She turned around and saw she was leaving a trail of footprints behind her. She curiously lifted up her foot and saw a shallow puncture wound in the arch of her foot-small and round, exactly the shape of a vampire's fang.

Integra looked up quickly, just in time to see Abraham stepping behind Alucard, the sharp staff raised between his legs, held steadily as the human aimed. Alucard licked his red teeth and his own eyes opened wide, realizing for the first time that not all the blood in his mouth was his.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After that moment, everything happened very quickly.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She had no memory of Alucard rising up.

It happened so fast, perhaps too fast to see. His twisted, broken limbs were healed, his wounds closed and the iron shackles no more than twisted scrap laying on the floor. His naked white body gleamed with perspiration, his wild black hair alive and growing. His formerly emaciated frame filled out, his skin rippling it moved over his sinewy muscles and tendons. _Oh_, how he moved. So perfectly sculpted, his flesh smooth and pale like a marble statue. Integra had a moment to admire him in his glory. For a brief second, he was beautiful.

Abraham rushed forward, armed with his whip and staff; too late.

Integra squeezed her eyes shut.

Certainly, this would be the end of Abraham VanHelsing and herself.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

She damned herself, damned herself for her fear. This was nothing but an illusion–of this she was absolutely sure. Nothing in this illusion could possibly harm her. Yet, she was afraid.

She shivered and held herself, her eyes shut tightly. She was afraid. She was afraid. She had no strength of her own. She was just a little girl playing grown-up in God's war. All her bravado came from her control over…_him_. She did not know why he obeyed her, did not understand why he called her "master." His obedience had given her a thrill, but it was not genuine. She had no reason to believe he wouldn't turn on her some day, break her neck and drain her blood and leave her a wandering ghoul.

And she could not hate Alucard for it, not after what she had seen. But if she knew Alucard at all, she knew her end would not be quick or merciful.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Integra gasped as she was yanked to her feet. Her eyes flew open. All she could see was Alucard's ivory, slick skin. Her face was pressed into his icy chest as the vampire squeezed her against his frame. He held her tightly against himself, and slunk slowly backwards into the corner, dragging Integra with her, a low hiss escaping from between his teeth.

"You beast!" Abraham roared. "Release my son!"

Alucard did not respond, just wedged himself in the corner of the room.

"Don't drag my son between us, you coward!" Abraham snarled. "Fight me! Like a man! Face me Dracula!"

Integra could feel Alucard shivering as he clutched her body. She could not tell if he shook from just the sheer energy coursing through his body, or if he trembled in fear still. In any case, his grip was unyielding. She struggled to breathe. Her hands were crushed between their bodies.

Abraham swung his whip above his head and cracked it with a fierce snap. "You have nowhere to go! The sun will rise soon and I have your coffin hidden away where you will never find it. How far do you think you'll get before I hunt you down again? You'll be so scorched and hungry you'll be begging me to take you back—no matter what the conditions. Only then I won't be so _compassionate._ I'll hang you by your toes, twenty four hours a day, and if my son is spoiled or hurt or dead, you can expect to travel the whole world where I'll dissect you again and again before classrooms and lecture halls. I'll open your ribcage and skull and poke at your brain. I'll make you scream and piss and shit yourself for the delight of children and scholars. When I'm done, I'll lobotomize you and leave you in a straight jacket and train you to mop the floors. Or I'll take you to the taxidermist and stuff you, whichever pleases me most!"

Alucard rocked back and forth, breathing. He didn't respond to Abraham. He just breathed.

Integra lay crushed against Alucard's frigid, damp chest, her eyes wide, her arms pinned by his unnatural embrace. She could hear the air rushing in and out of his lungs.

It's an illusion, Integra thought. It's not real. "Stop this," Integra said, gasping. "Haven't you had your fun?"

Alucard only shivered in response. After a moment, he buried his face against the crook of her neck and whispered in his thickly accented voice; "Little master, I haven't _begun_ to have my fun."

_To be continued…_


	5. Voice of the Beast

In Alucard's unyielding grasp, Integra had no room to struggle or squirm. He kept her body firmly pressed against his chest. Her cheek rested against his neck. She could hear the "whooshing" air rushing in and out of his dead lungs. The absence of a beating heart made her hair stand on end.

Abraham was furious. "Release my son!" he spat. "You demon! Are you such a coward that even at full strength, fully revived, you fear to fight me!"

Alucard completely ignored the man. He rocked back and forth languidly, breathing slowly, his body continuing to rejuvenate. As Integra lay against him, she could feel his muscles and flesh swelling, filling out more generously as he recovered. _This_ Alucard was much less_ lean_ than the Alucard she was familiar with-his frame was solid, bulky, like an old warrior-more like a crusader than the lanky corpse she knew.

"Do you like my body?" Alucard purred at last. "I can see you looking at me."

Integra's face burned red in humiliation. She wasn't _admirin_g him! That stupid ass!

"There's nothing about your form that pleases me!" Abraham roared. "Nothing I find appealing in a cadaver."

Integra grit her teeth, realizing that Alucard was speaking to Abraham, not her.

"Would you like to see this skin dappled in bruises, like it was before?" Alucard offered, and suddenly blue and black contusions erupted over the vampire's body. "What about the blood?" Blood cascaded down over Alucard's body, seemingly from nowhere. Integra yelped as she was drenched in it. Alucard dipped his head and licked Integra's forehead, lapping up his own blood. "Would you like to use my body? Would you like to degrade me, make me suck your cock, fuck me?" Alucard paused, to savor the blood, his eyes briefly closing. When he opened his eyes, he looked eagerly at Abraham and said, "You've never just asked me. You might have been surprised at my answer."

Abraham stood, furious, shaking, too incensed to answer.

Alucard smiled and said, "No. You wouldn't ask. If I gave you my consent, you wouldn't feel the same thrill. You need my tears to be real." He chuckled and added; "You need to tell yourself you're punishing me in God's name so you can look your fellow man in the eye and live among them, even though inside you are a monster, like me."

"My soul belongs to the Lord," Abraham declared. "I am not seduced by the devil. Your mind games will not corrupt me further."

Slowly, Integra felt Alucard's grip on her relax, but she dared not struggle. "Mind games?" Alucard said. "There is no game here, no deception." He licked his lips, tasting his own blood, rivulets of cold, undead blood streaming all over his body. "I've only ever done as you've asked."

Abraham screamed and lifted his whip again and cracked it, though Integra noticed it was not with as much force. "Lies! Lies! Lies!"

Alucard crooned, "You can't understand how I feel when I look at you, when I read your mind and see those dark lusts. You are motivated by the same primitive, ugly urges that drive all men. Your innermost desires are equally sadistic as mine. You have so long repressed yourself, dedicating yourself to God, living with discipline so firm it's torture."

Slowly, Alucard stood up, releasing Integra and leaving her on the floor. Integra pressed her back against the stone wall, watching the human and the vampire, unsure of what to expect.

Abraham stepped back, his whip raised, ready to defend himself, but he did not rush forward to attack. He studied Alucard carefully.

Alucard's eyes were reduced to haunting black slits. "Fuck me," he murmured. "Fuck me and give me all your self-hate. Fuck me as hard as you beat me. It will be our secret. I'm your slave."

"You see?" Abraham plead, his attention suddenly turning to Integra. "You see how he's a trickster and a fiend? Look how he manipulates people to his own sick end."

_What to believe? What to do?_ Integra wondered, closing her eyes. It made no difference. If it was real, then it was in the past, and nothing she could do now could change it. Integra did not respond to Abraham. She took in what Alucard had said soberly. She had no way of knowing if the vision before her was even real; weather it was Alucard's memory or his lie.

Before she could decide, she watched Alucard walk slowly forward until he was only standing a foot away from Abraham. Abraham kept his fist and his whip raised in the air, but that fist was frozen.

"No one has to know," Alucard murmured, his mouth brushing Abraham's ear. "Spare mankind your hatred. Save it for me." With that, Alucard bowed his head and kissed the man's ear. When Abraham did not respond in any way, Alucard kissed his ear again, then licked it, then suckled on his earlobe.

Integra drew back in revulsion, pressing her back against the wall. She stared in silence.

Abraham did not move. After a moment, his hand lowered to his side and the metal whip dropped to the floor. The man stared ahead blankly, unresponsive even as the massive vampire suckled on his earlobe and began to moan; "You can do anything you want to me and I won't say no. You can even impale me...while your men watch, just like in your fantasy." Alucard's mouth drifting to Abraham's throat, where he continued to kiss and nibble and suck. "You can humiliate me before your whole staff and I won't resist. You can tell them you're punishing me." Alucard licked the man's chin. "And when you chain my legs apart, when you pierce me with the staff as you impale me, you can mock my arousal, which everyone will be able to see." Alucard languidly dragged his tongue from Abraham's chin to his lower lip. "You can whip me then if you want. We'll both love it." With that, Alucard began to gently kiss Abraham's mouth directly. "Everyone will know I'm yours…"

Integra stared with absolute, unyielding, unforgiving hatred at what was happening in front of her.

She could see Abraham continuing to stare ahead blankly. His eyes were soulless and lost. And whether that was because he was under the vampire's spell or if it was because he was just realizing now that Alucard spoke the truth, it didn't matter. Integra stared fiery daggers back at her grandfather. He was a failure.

Slowly, Integra inched her back up the wall until she was standing on her own two feet. Her mind was wheeling, racing, her heart thundering, her fists balling up into tight fists, her jaw clenched so firmly her teeth felt like they would crack.

She looked at herself, at her hands. She was still drenched in her servant's blood.

_Her servant._

Integra took up the bloody, discarded impaling staff on the floor, and it briefly made a sharp scraping noise that reverberated in the silent air.

Alucard turned too late.

"Since when have you had any other master than I?" Integra demanded furiously, thrusting the staff forward expertly.

Alucard stumbled backwards, his hands clawing the staff that pierced his throat and protruded out the back of his neck. In his panic, he thrashed, the staff wildly careening in every direction and barely missing Abraham's face by inches. Alucard gasped, howling, blood bubbling up around the silver weapon.

Abraham just stood still, looking dead ahead.

Once Alucard collapsed, he violently pulled at the offensive staff, but the skin on his hands scalded when he touched it. As the silver cooked and sizzled, his wounds closed around it, effective cauterizing the metal to his skin. "Get it out!" he howled. "It burns! It burns! You impudent child! I should have eaten you!"

Young Integra approached Alucard and grasped the silver staff and held it tightly against the floor to still the struggling vampire. "Your little game ends now, Alucard. Your sick vision only reinforces what I already know: I am your one, true master, and I'll suffer no rivals, not even your perverse fantasies!" She cruelly twisted the staff, ripping the vampire's flesh, his skin burning, black smoke rising from the gaping wound.

She screamed as loud as she had ever screamed before, hoping to shatter this twisted reality and wake them both from their dream; "Never before have you known a master as powerful and unforgiving as I! I have been your master since before I was born and I will _still_ be your master long after I am dead, and for every day of your life _so help me God_ I will succeed where God and all the others have failed. _You will fear me!"_

With that, Integra retracted the staff sharply, releasing Alucard. Blood erupted from his wound, and the vampire curled up on the floor, coughing, sputtering, but regenerating quickly. After a moment, the disoriented vampire sat up.

Integra was not done. She stabbed the vampire again and again…that's how she thought of him; the vampire. Not Alucard, but the vampire, _a vampire_, nothing more. Not a servant, not a tool, not a source of power, but a pest, a disease, vermin to be exterminated, to be driven away.

"Give me your unconditional obedience," Integra demanded hatefully.

"No," Alucard spat, his eerie red eyes glowing, rebuilding his strength. "I will kill you. The fact that you are a child means nothing to me. I will kill you where you stand."

Integra lifted the staff once more like a spear, Alucard's superhuman speed and strength never once intimidating her. Her hatred and sense of betrayal were too strong. "I will kill you, vampire. That fact that you are a No Life King means nothing to me. I will kill you where you stand!"

"Then come at me!" the vampire demanded gleefully.

Abraham blinked slowly. His lips, numb, formed words: "My….my son."

Alucard's eyes flickered in recognition, but he did not turn to look.

"I won't allow you….to hurt my son," Abraham finally whimpered. "Not for any pleasure. I won't turn my back on man or God for any wickedness, no matter how tempting."

At that, Alucard turned his head and looked at Abraham, his lip curled, his eyes glowering. He was shaking.

Integra relaxed, letting the staff droop.

Alucard whirled back to his opponent and seized the staff with his bare hand, snatching it away from Integra and flinging it across the room.

Integra gasped and stepped back, her hands empty.

"I have never hesitated to kill a child!" Alucard snarled, rushing forward, his claws extended, his eyes glowing.

As Integra's back touched the wall, she could only focus on Alucard's eyes.

There were tears.

Her reflexes weren't lightening fast, like a vampire's, but she was more focused, more aware of her surroundings, and aware that the reality before her wasn't real. Everything was a dream, and so she wasn't afraid. At this moment, when all other mortals would have frozen, death certain before a vampire in a murderous rage, Integra calmly and quickly lifted the hem of her white night gown. For even though all Alucard and Abraham could see was a youthful Arthur, she was still Integra Hellsing, still in her night gown, and her holster and her gun remained on her thigh.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

She knew only a shot to the head or the heart would be affective, so the shot to the thigh had been a calculated risk. But she never would have been able to lift the gun high enough in the air before Alucard rushed her. This stopped his momentum. Once he fell to his knees, she had ample time to aim. She made the head shot count.

It was a long time before Alucard made any noise. By then, Integra had already swept up the skull fragments and mopped up the fluids, gray matter and blood and took the entirety of the vampire's carcass to the cell that would serve as his new home. She separated him from his coffin; he would have to start learning the give and take of obedience and insolence and that rewards and punishments that would come with his new life.

When Integra was done with her task, she found Abraham sitting alone in his "torture" room. He held in his hands the chain of silver. Crusty blood flaked from the links.

"Were those dark desires really mine?" Abraham whispered, his power and bravado gone. "Or was I overcome with his power?" He finally looked up at who he thought was his son.

Integra said, "It doesn't matter. He found your weakness, and he'll exploit it as long as you live."

"Then I am damned." Abraham let the chain lay on the floor. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I thought once I had defeated him…once he had….what was I thinking?"

Integra said nothing. She crouched down and picked up the links of silver chain and set them down on the table full of various tools. Quietly, she gathered them up and began discarding them in a waste bin. "You'll have to leave," Integra said, feeling Abraham's eyes on her. "A vampire's power isn't limited to his physical presence. He'll haunt your dreams, coax you to return to him. He'll manipulate you into releasing him." She turned once all the tools were gone, folding her arms. "I will master the vampire."

Abraham was incredulous. "How do you expect to master the beast where I could not? You are a child."

"Little boys can carry the sword and the bow, just as men can. And girls can command armies and lead men into doom or victory, as queens can."

"Rubbish." Abraham's head drooped. He turned away, holding himself. "Rubbish," he repeated weakly, and Integra knew he had already let Alucard go in his heart.

"You need to tell him," Integra said after the aging man. "You need to tell the vampire you are surrendering his custody to me."

Abraham looked back at her, his eyes blank.

"Then you may never see him again," Integra said firmly. "It's the only way to sever the bond."

Abraham nodded. "I'll tell him. Privately."

Integra looked evenly at the legendary patriarch of her family and said, "Do not give him an opportunity to…"

"I won't," Abraham said coldly, "But he needs to hear from me in my own words. If he sees you there, he'll think you're stealing something that's his, and he'll never give up trying to find his way back to me. He's very possessive."

Integra nodded. "I'll wait."

With that, Abraham turned and walked the long, sad walk to his beloved foe. He disappeared into the shadows long before he reached the cell and so Integra could not see or hear was transpired. All she could hear were the foot steps gradually disappearing. After a time, the sound of footsteps returned, and Abraham VanHelsing appeared once more, looking stony and cold, and he marched forward without making eye contact with Integra. He brushed past her and said nothing, continued on and ascended the stairs, never to return.

Once the echo of his footsteps had faded, Integra could hear it at last: Alucard's voice calling out for his master, begging for him to return, promising loyalty, obedience and celibacy. The girl stood silently for a long time, listening to Alucard's long string of promises, then his deteriorating pleading, and after a time, what had to be inconsolable weeping. She waited until he was silent, withstanding all his heartbreak without remorse until she was certain she harbored no sympathies for her enemy, no dark lusts or secret longings of her own.

Once she was satisfied, she turned and walked away. She would not speak to Alucard now. He needed to be alone, to contemplate what it meant to be alone, before she offered him a "work-study" to break up the monotony of his imprisonment. Besides, she had spent far too much time in the dark.

Integra ascended the stairs and emerged in the light.

_To be continued…_

AN: Jesus Christ people, calm yourselves. To think, I started this project to take a break from "Starved" so I could finish it with gusto, and this project took so much out of me I needed to take a break from it with "Under the Table" as well! This little fics have lives of their own, they can't be rushed.


	6. Most Vexing

Integra basked in the warm, honey glow of the sun.

At first, the blinding light was all she could see. As her eyes adjusted, she could see the pebbled droplets of water clinging to the window from the previous night's rain. The storm had rinsed the grime from the glass, offering an unobstructed view of Hellsing's rolling green hills, the shooting range and the family cemetery in the distance. Her eyes focused on the lonely mausoleum crowning the family plot; Abraham VanHelsing managed to live out the rest of his life alone, but returned to Hellsing to be buried near those he held dear.

She blinked, holding the curtain open, absorbing the reality before her.

Stiffly, the girl looked over her shoulder.

Her bedroom, awash in sunlight. Her bed. That vampire, on her bed.

Alucard was sitting up in her bed, his back tightly pressed against the headboard, his legs tucked under his body, his arms hugging his torso. His face was flayed. Burned, split open, puss and blood leaking out. Still, he continued to leer, though he shivered as he did. "Pain slut," he said.

Integra blinked. "What? What did you call me?"

"Our safe word," Alucard explained through his clenched smile. "Pain slut."

Integra stared uncomprehendingly. Finally, she said, "Oh," and let the curtain fall back, and once again the master bedroom was blanketed in darkness. Integra waited for her eyes to adjust.

In the dark, she could hear Alucard rising off the bed. As her vision returned, she could see him buttoning his shirt up and knotting his cravat. He didn't look at her as he did. He buttoned his trousers. Integra stared as he did that. She had not seen him open his pants.

Once Alucard had dressed himself completely, he stood before his master. The burn wounds on his face and body had already regenerated completely. "If you have no reprimand or punishment for me now, I'd like to go to my coffin."

It took a few seconds for Integra to realize Alucard was asking permission to leave. However, she did not want him to leave. She wanted an explanation for the vision she had experienced. She wanted to know how she had seen his memory…and to ask if, indeed, it had been his memory. Of course, in her heart, she had no doubt it had been real one way or another.

Integra realized she had been staring at her servant for a long while without answering him. It was more difficult to look at him now. She had seen him beg and kiss and whisper seductively as he'd stood naked and kissed another man openly, a man who was her _blood_. She had heard him cry out in devotion and shame and declare his love only to be rejected and abandoned. Most vexing, however, she knew what beauty lay beneath his Victorian attire. She'd seen his manhood quite intimately.

At the memory, she flushed furiously.

When she pried her eyes from his body to look at his face, she was confronted by those foolish eyes, the ones that had won her long ago. They were dark, sad, hungry and insane. They were also staring at the floor, rather than at her, and so he couldn't see her red face and had no idea of her humiliation.

Integra turned away from the vampire and crossed her arms, holding herself tightly.

So. It _had_ been his memory. Perhaps that was what sunlight felt to a vampire–like a terrible memory coming back to haunt you, the most crushing, crippling pain.

Integra could see the sunlight stubbornly peaking through the heavy curtains.

It didn't really matter how she had seen it. A psychic bond, perhaps. Or maybe Alucard had projected the immense pain of the sunlight away from his body and mind using his supernatural power, and she had absorbed it. Or maybe still he had _intended_ her to see it; a plea, a call for mercy. It didn't matter. It didn't matter.

"Master," Alucard said gently. "If there's nothing else, may I go?"

Integra contemplated his request. "You just threatened to ravish me in my bed. You are a foul-mouthed, insolent pig. If I could stand to look at you, I would discipline you somehow. As it is, my feeling are so hurt, I feel so disrespected, I want you to be as far away from me as possible. Yes, you may leave. Do not see me again unless I summon you."

"Master."

Integra held up her hand. "I am not interested in your false apologizes or your hollow gestures. Obey my orders without question."

Stiffly, Alucard turned to leave. As he approached the wall, Integra felt him phase through it, and the feeling of his troublesome presence vanished.

She waited for a few minutes, then felt herself relax. She turned around and looked at her bed. The covers were wrinkled where Alucard had laid. She went to the bed and smoothed her hands over the blankets.

The day was new. The sunlight warmed the earth. The girl knew her responsibilities and duties would not wait for her to catch up on sleep. It was time to redress herself and descend the stairs, face her men and command them before there came snickers and complaints she was sleeping in. It didn't matter if she was exhausted. It didn't matter if she felt small.

Integra returned to her dresser and slipped her nightgown back over her head. She regarded her naked reflection with cold indifference now. She unstrapped the holster and firearm from her thigh and placed it on the dresser, then dressed herself deliberately and methodically. Pant suit, blouse, jacket. After she knotted her cravat, she tugged her smart white gloves over her hands snugly. She lifted the holster and checked the pistol there…and noticed the safety was off. Frowning, she pulled the gun out and checked the clip.

Two rounds missing from the magazine. Of course.

_The end._


End file.
